YOUR ASSIGNMENT
You are invited to experience in the form of an illustrated judging scenario the challenge that is presented by a breed in which there is a great deal of head diversity.  The Bullmastiff, a man-made (60% mastiff and 40% Bulldog) impressive breed with easily discernible head features is the ideal candidate for in-depth study.


A REPRESENTATION OF TYPICAL
I have long been intrigued by the seemingly endless variety of Bullmastiff heads presented to me inside and outside the showring.  The head being the hallmark of a breed and diversity of heads in this breed being almost endless, I have provided as a base an unofficial representation of typical for those readers not familiar with this working breed.

EIGHT HEADS ñ TWO CLASSES
So as not to overwhelm you with variety, eight real-life Bullmastiff heads ñ none representing ideal ñ are presented four at a time. Your task after reading the standards description of the head plus my comments is to place each class of four in order of merit and then decide on the winning dog.

HEAD
Skull large and square, viewed from every angle, fair wrinkle when interested, but not when in repose.  Circumference of skull may equal height of dog measured at top of shoulder; broad and deep with well filled cheeks.  Pronounced stop.  Muzzle short; distance from tip if nose to stop approximately one third of length from tip of black nose to centre of occiput, broad under eyes and sustaining nearly same width to end of nose; blunt and cut off square, forming right angle with upper line of face, and at same time proportionate with skull.  Underjaw broad to end.  Nose broad with widely spreading nostrils; flat neith pointed nor turned up in profile.  Flews not pendulous, never hanging below level of lower jaw.  Mouth level desired but slightly undershot allowed but not preferred.  Canine teeth large and set wide apart, other teeth strong, even and well placed.  Eyes dark or hazel, of medium size, set apart the width of muzzle with furrow between.  Light or yellow eyes highly undesirable.  Ears V-shaped, folded back, set on wide and high, level of occiput giving square appearance to skull which is most important. Small and deeper in colour than body.  Point of ear level with eye when alert.  Rose ear highly undesirable.

STANDARD EXPANDED

FIRST CLASS (A, B, C, D)
You have read the official KC description and my further comments on the head and have checked out the representation of typical, now you are invited to study the first four heads and place them in order of preference before and/or after reading how as an artist I would improve each head.

HEAD A
The round skull should be made square and the ears should be brought forward and their inner edge made to lie close to cheek.  The broad muzzle is impressive as is the strong underjaw.  The cheeks should be better developed and the looseness at the neck tightened.  The loose eyerims also need tightening and made almond shaped.

HEAD B
The eyes are set wide enough apart but are round.  The eyes should be almond shaped to produce an intelligent expression.  Ears need to be made smaller.  The narrow caved-in muzzle, small nose and narrow underjaw all require broadening.  Flews are too pendulous and the neck roll
should be removed.

HEAD C
Ears are too large and set too close together at top of skull. Eyes should be spaced further apart and eyerims tightened.  Loose cheek wrinkles should be removed and cheeks filled.  Muzzle should be made a little broader at top.

HEAD D
Imagine if like a balloon you could expand this head in every direction then aside from round eyes, large ears and too much turn up of underjaw, you might produce a decent head.  Notice that the eyes are balanced above each side of the muzzle ñ good except that the muzzle lacks breadth.  Oh yes, the thick roll around the neck would have
to be removed.

MY ORDER
I placed the head of dog C first, followed by Head A, then Head D for third place, and Head B for fourth.

SECOND CLASS (E, F, G, H)
Facing straight forward the features and expressions possessed by this second class of four Bullmastiffs differ again from those of the previous class.

HEAD E
The rounded head and nose give this dog a piggish appearance.  Bringing the edges of the ears closed to the cheeks and broadening the top of the muzzle would help however improvement would have to include increasing the depth of upper lip (distance between bottom of nose and closed lips) as well as setting the canine teeth wider apart (broader jaw) and cleaning up the loose rolls of skin on the neck.

HEAD F
The profuse cheek wrinkles should be eliminated and the jaw bones should be better defined (under cheeks).  The eyes are OK and the muzzle has breadth however some of the flews should be removed and the neck could be cleaned up.

HEAD G
The ears need to be made V-Shaped and the muzzle broadened.  The nostrils need to be made large, a serious fault e.g. nostrils wide and spreading.  The flews are too loose and heavy as is the loose skin at the base of the throat.  The degree of upturn of the jaw should be reduced which if you are not familiar with the breed and the concern in regard to the danger of reversion to bulldog, may be difficult to visualise face-on.  Allow me to explain it this wayÖyou see the horizontal line I have drawn under the left ear and beside the neck roll, well this line is the level the closed lips would meet if the upturn of the underjaw was not so pronounced.  The distance would then be increased between the nose and the mouth.  The upper lip would be as long (deep) as on Head F.  It will be easier to see a reversion to bulldog when you study Head H.

HEAD H
The large cabbage leaf ears drew attention to the narrowness of skull near eye level.  This narrowness is probably the reason for the slightly oblique eye angle.  Fill under the eyes appears to have melted away and the cheeks lack fill.  The flews are too pendulous but that isnít the major muzzle problem.

The major muzzle problem is the reversion to Bulldog.  The muzzle needs to be lengthened and the end squared off bringing the nose forward and perpendicular. This reversion to bulldog is undesirable.

MY ORDER
First place goes to Head F, second place to Head E, third place to Head G, and fourth place to Head H.

WINNERS DOG
My number one in the first class was Head C.  in my second class my number one was Head F.  interestingly, the amount of deliberation required between these two heads is equal to that of deciding between heads B & D for third place in the first classÖMy choice for Winners Dog is Head C.

HEAD VARIETY
Regardless of how you placed these eight heads (and a plus for you if you brought additional Bullmastiff virtues and faults into consideration), if I bought to your attention hopefully in a dramatic way that heads can vary considerably depending on the breed then this was a successful exercise.

By Robert Cole
based on the KC 1986 Standard.